Take a Bow

Take a Bow Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Take a bow, the night is over
This masquerade is getting older
Lights are low, the curtains down
There's no one here
(There's no one here, there's no one in the crowd)
Say your lines, but do you feel them?
Do you mean what you say when there's no one around (no one around)
Watching you, watching me, one lonely star
(One lonely star you don't know who you are)

[Chorus]
I've always been in love with you (always with you)
I guess you've always known it's true (you know it's true)
You took my love for granted, why oh why
The show is over, say good-bye
Say good-bye (bye bye), say good-bye

[Verse 2]
Make them laugh, it comes so easy
When you get to the part
Where you're breaking my heart (breaking my heart)
Hide behind your smile, all the world loves a clown
(Just make them smile the whole world loves a clown)
Wish you well, I cannot stay
You deserve an award for the role that you played (role that you played)
No more masquerade, you're one lonely star
(One lonely star and you don't know who you are)

[Chorus]
I've always been in love with you (always with you)
I guess you've always known it's true (you know it's true)
You took my love for granted, why oh why
The show is over, say good-bye
Say good-bye (bye bye), say good-bye

[Chorus]
I've always been in love with you (always with you)
I guess you've always known it's true (you know it's true)
You took my love for granted, why oh why
The show is over, say good-bye
Say good-bye (bye bye), say good-bye
I've always been in love with you (always with you)
I guess you've always known it's true (you know it's true)
You took my love for granted, why oh why
The show is over, say good-bye
Say good-bye (bye bye), say good-bye

[Outro]
Say good-bye (bye bye), say good-bye
Say good-bye

More on Genius

About “Take a Bow”

“Take a Bow” is a song by American singer Madonna from her sixth studio album Bedtime Stories (1994). It was released as the album’s second single on October 28, 1994, by Maverick Records. It is a mid-tempo pop ballad written and produced by Madonna and Babyface.

What have the artists said about the song?

The idea going in was to juxtapose my singing style with a hardcore hip-hop sensibility and have the finished product still sound like a Madonna record. I began the process by meeting with the hip-hop producers whose work I most admired. It was important, if I were to use a variety of collaborators, that the end product sound cohesive and thematically whole. I wasn’t interested in the variety pack approach.

Madonna explaining the concept of the song in Fred Bronson’s The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits